This application is U.S. National Phase of International Application No. PCT/EP2006/061269, filed on Apr. 3, 2006 and claims priority to German Patent Application No. 102005021607.2, filed on May 10, 2005, the entire contents of each which are hereby incorporated by reference.
The present invention relates to a door for a household appliance such as a refrigerator, a freezer, a dishwasher, or similar.
In the case of household appliances which are integrated in kitchen furniture or installed adjacent thereto, the design of the door is often matched to the adjacent doors of the kitchen furniture. In order to achieve an exactly flush alignment of the furniture doors and the visible parts of the appliance doors, the latter are generally constructed of multiple parts comprising an appliance-side panel, which performs the technical functions of the sealing of an internal space of the household appliance and is usually preassembled on the appliance as supplied by the manufacturer, and a decorative panel, which is subsequently mounted on the appliance-side panel with the aid of adjustable adapters after the household appliance is installed in its intended place of use. In the case of integrated appliances, the edge length of the decorative panel is generally a few centimeters longer than the appliance-side panel, since the decorative panel must cover not just the appliance-side panel but the whole furniture slot in which the appliance is installed.
In order to attach the decorative panel to the appliance-side panel, use is normally made of angle pieces in which one limb fits closely against a side edge of the appliance-side panel and a second limb is screwed onto the decorative panel in each case, said second limb being parallel with the front side of the appliance-side panel and projecting outward beyond the edge thereof.
In the case of a household appliance which is not designed for installation in a furniture slot, but instead is intended to stand alongside furniture or other household appliances, it is neither necessary nor appropriate for a decorative panel of such an appliance to project laterally beyond the body of the appliance. If such a decorative panel is to be mounted in the conventional manner for integrated household appliances as described above, the problem arises that the screws by means of which the decorative panel is attached to the angle pieces must be positioned very near to the edges of the decorative panel. As a result there exists a risk that the material of the decorative panel might split when the screws are inserted or at a later time if the decorative panel is subjected to mechanical stress, and the decorative panel might become unusable.